


revolt

by 101places



Series: there is only you [1]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, I mean it's about Revan of course it's Jedi critical, Jedi Critical, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29202078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101places/pseuds/101places
Summary: Arren Kae meets a young slave in the Outer Rim.( AKA : baby revan meets a jedi and is very underwhelmed )
Relationships: Arren Kae & Revan
Series: there is only you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686904
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	revolt

**Author's Note:**

> its been a while since i wrote something so here have this
> 
> tw for slavery, including child slavery & all the associated connotations, and misgendering
> 
> comments/kudos make me feel like i just successfully pickpocketed a jedi

Arren Kae was not here to free slaves.

This was just a statement of a fact. It didn’t mean that she didn’t want to free the slaves, or even that she _wouldn’t_ free the slaves. It just meant that it was not her purpose here. Her purpose was to study the history of the planet, as there was evidence to suggest the presence of an ancient Jedi Temple. It wasn’t particularly grand work, in the full scheme of things, but it was work that was meaningful to her.

Still, the meaningfulness of her work was slightly impacted by the presence of the slaves. It wasn’t as if Arren Kae was some doe-eyed young Padawan leaving the temple for the first time. She had spent a great deal of time on the Outer Rim - she knew that slavery was a fact of life here, and that as long as the Republic let it continue, it would remain that way. But there was something about the slaves here that drew her attention.

Or, perhaps that wasn’t quite right - because it wasn’t the slaves. It was one slave.

A young child, who likely appeared younger than their actual age. They were a human with dark skin and darker hair, shaved for ease of maintenance. Whenever Kae saw the child, they were surrounded by others, and those small crowds always dispersed a minute or two before the slavers came around to check on their progress. There was something happening there, but it was none of Kae’s business - until it was.

Arren Kae kept her lightsaber attached to her belt at all times, just in case she had a need for it. In truth, she doubted there would be much use for that tool on this planet, but leaving it behind would have been foolish. However, now it was nowhere to be found.

She checked her quarters, but her tool wasn’t present. She tried to recall the previous day, tried to recall when she had last been consciously aware of her saber, but she couldn’t pinpoint the last time she had been aware of it. Surely she would have noticed if it had fallen, but the only other explanation was that someone must have stolen it. 

Who would be bold enough to steal from a Jedi?

Who would be skilled enough to succeed?

She left her quarters, her plans for the day being delayed until she was able to find her lightsaber, but it didn’t take long for another hitch in her plans to come about. In the town square, a small crowd had gathered. Kae pushed her way to the front to see what the commotion was about.

There was a man standing before the crowd that Kae recognised as one of the slavers. Behind him were a collection of the slaves, looking at the ground or the sky, or anywhere but the crowd of angry townspeople before them - all except one, at least. That child was staring at the crowd, meeting the eyes of the townspeople with an expression that Kae could only describe as righteous anger.

“How do you expect us to feel safe when these vermin are allowed to live?” A human male with burnt red skin called out from the crowd, and a few people murmured their agreement.

“Rest assured, they will be severely punished for their actions,” The slaver said, “but you must let us pass. We have procedures to follow!”

“Procedures,” The red-skinned man sneered, looking back at the rest of the crowd, and finally settling his gaze upon Kae. Kae groaned internally as she realised what was about to happen. “Master Jedi, make this fool see reason.”

That was the lot of a Jedi - being pulled in to solve everyone’s problems all over the galaxy. Privately, Kae thought that people could do with working out how to fix their problems by themselves.

“How do you expect me to do that when I do not know what is happening here?” Kae asked, not trying to hide her irritation at being called upon.

The man either didn’t notice or didn’t care about Kae’s irritation, “These beasts tried to kill us in our sleep!”

Kae raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“Like this, you old hag!” A new voice spoke, and Kae turned to see the child slave staring at her with that look of anger, holding her lightsaber in their little hand.

The other slaves backed behind the child, and the slaver and the crowd backed away from them. Only Kae stood her ground, looking down at the child with curiosity. So this was the thief. She wondered how they had managed to pull it off, but such questions would have to wait.

“You don’t know how to use that.” Kae commented calmly.

“It’s not that hard.” The child retaliated, but didn’t make a move to attack, “The weight’s weird, but it’s just a sword like any other.”

“Then show me.”

The child hesitated. So they hadn’t truly intended to fight her - interesting. The provocation seemed to be enough to change their mind, however, and they ran towards her with the saber held high. Kae easily dodged the attack, but they were quick on their feet and corrected their trajectory, swinging at her new position. Their attack was clumsy, and their aim was wrong, so it still didn’t hit, but it was better than Kae had been expecting for an untrained child.

Still, there was a reason why Jedi were the only ones to wield lightsabers, and Kae knew that if this fight continued the child was at risk of seriously harming themself. With a fluidity of motion that came from years of training with the Force, Kae stepped forward, took her saber from the furious child’s hands, and flipped them onto their back.

Despite being defeated, the child continued to gaze up at Kae in anger. It seemed they didn’t want to feign submission, even if it could serve to protect them.

“Thank you, Master Jedi,” the slaver said, “I have no idea where he got that. I’ll take it from here.”

“No.” Kae decided, “I’m involved now.”

“U-uh, Master Jedi, we do appreciate your assistance, but-”

“I said I’m involved. Do you want to see what happens when you make me repeat myself again?”

“N-No, Master Jedi.” The slaver stuttered, before turning to herd the slaves back towards their compound. This time, the crowd parted without a word.

.

Kae sat across from the slavemaster, a neutral expression on her face and her lightsaber once again being displayed proudly on her belt. Usually, her lightsaber was a tool to help her in her archaeology, but today she would allow it to be seen as a weapon. People like this seemed to only respond to violence, after all.

“So, if I am to understand what happened, you allowed dozens of slaves to escape and plant explosive devices in the mines beneath the town.” Kae summed up the events of the previous night.

“They were organised.” The slavemaster said, barely concealed contempt in his voice, “What’s the galaxy coming to when slaves organise?”

Kae ignored his comment, continuing, “What do you plan to do with them?”

“We’re already behind schedule. We can’t really afford to punish them all - but that ringleader of theirs… _him_ we can punish.”

Kae frowned. “The child is responsible for all of this?”

There was a strange look in the slavemaster’s eyes, “He… is more than a child, Master Jedi.”

Intrigued, Kae leaned back on her chair. “To be clear, you have exactly one option right now. You either tell me everything that you know, or I destroy your operations here.”

The slavemaster glanced nervously to her lightsaber, and Kae concealed a smirk.

“...He can do things, Master Jedi. Things that no child should be able to do - but his abilities are only one thing. The slaves listen to him. Stars, he’s a child, but I’ve seen grown adult - people in their 50s, 60s, who have spent their whole lives as slaves, follow him to their deaths. I don’t know what he is, but this ends today.”

“You plan to kill him.”

“Don’t say it like that.” The slavemaster replied quickly, “A public execution will stop further uprisings and rid us of our problem. It’s just business.”

“Let me speak to him.”

“I don’t know what you want to do that for. You saw him. He’s feral.”

“Do you think you can deny me anything that I want?” Kae asked, her tone conversational.

“...You’re the one who will be wasting your time.”

.

The child sat in the corner of their cell, their back pressed against the wall and their green eyes gazing out, locked on the door. When it opened and Kae stepped in, their eyes followed her, not straying for a moment.

Kae sat on the floor opposite the child, looking back at them silently. They were small and slim from malnutrition. Their legs and arms were scarred, and their whole body was filthy. The clothes that they wore may have been white, underneath the dirt and grime, but today they were a dirty grey, and torn so they offered little true protection for the body under them.

All in all, they were a sorry sight.

“I was wondering,” Kae began, “how did you steal my lightsaber?”

The child pressed their lips together and looked away. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

Kae smiled. “Oh? But you just said something to me.”

“What- no. That’s not what I meant.” The child scowled.

“And you said something else.”

“Shut up!”

“For someone with nothing to say, you do seem to be saying a lot.”

The child finally stopped talking, crossing their arms and glaring a hole into the floor.

“If you don’t want to tell me how you stole my lightsaber, that’s fine. Why don’t you tell me what you do want to say?”

“I said I don’t have anything…”

“I can recognise a lie when I hear one.”

The child hesitated, as if gathering their thoughts together, before they looked at her with that fire in their eyes burning once again.

“They tell stories about Jedi. They say Jedi are supposed to be defenders of peace. They say Jedi are supposed to protect people. Then you come here, and you’re a Jedi, everyone knows it - but you’re not here to free slaves.” The child’s lip curled in disgust as they spoke, their judgement clear. “If you’re not here to free slaves, then why are you here?”

The question struck Kae - not so much because of the question itself, but because of the question's answer. She wasn’t here to free slaves. No, she was here to study ruins - but there were many people who could study ruins. If she did not discover the ruins here, then one day, someone would.

But if she didn’t free the slaves…

“Maybe I am here to free the slaves.”

The child shook their head. “I can recognise a lie when I hear one.”

“I deserved that.” Kae admitted, “You’re right. I didn’t come here to free slaves. I came here to search for ancient ruins.”

“Why?”

“I’m a historian. Nothing more, nothing less.”

The child frowned, “That’s not what they think you are.”

“I am careful to cultivate whatever image is necessary to get me to where I need to go.”

“So you’re smart.” The child said, “If you’re smart, then that means you could do it, if you wanted to. You could find a way to free the slaves. It doesn’t matter if you’re a historian or a warrior, you could still do it.”

Kae looked at the child. Freeing slaves was far beyond what Kae was capable of - there were hundreds of them in this facility, she did not have the means to do so, however… that didn’t mean that she could do nothing.

“I can’t free the slaves, but it’s possible that I could free you.”

The child blinked, the fire in their eyes replaced by confusion, “What?”

“The slavemaster told me that you have powers and, regardless of how you did it, the fact that you were able to steal my lightsaber gives his claim some merit. I could take you with me to Coruscant, and you could train to become a Jedi.”

“So you’d… save me? Take me away from here?”

“Yes.”

“But just me?”

“Yes.”

In an instant, the fire returned to the child’s eyes. “Then that’s worse than saving no one! You can’t pick to save me and me alone! I’d sooner die than surrender those that relied on me!”

Kae was surprised by the fire in the child’s eyes, and behind their words. Where had a child picked up such a strong spirit, in a place like this? Perhaps the answer was in the question itself.

“I don’t have the skills nor strength to free the slaves here, child. You are the only one I have the power to save.”

“Then you don’t have the power to save anyone.” The child said, turning their body away from Kae and looking back at the floor.

.

Kae knew that she should accept the child as a lost cause. She knew that she should return to her search for the ruins, even if with every day that passed by she began to suspect that she was looking in the entirely wrong sector. But their words echoed in her mind, forcing their way into her awareness with every step that she took.

Kae had grown up with the Order. She had never really chosen to become a Jedi - it was just how things had happened. She had never given her role as a Jedi too much thought, had followed the path set out for her. She had a talent for and an interest in history, so that had been where she had ended up - a Jedi historian. Not the most romantic of occupations, but it had always been enough for her.

This, certainly, wasn’t the first time that someone had expressed doubt of her path. Both those within the Order and outside of it had made more than their fair share of comments. But this was the first time that she truly listened and saw.

Walking out of the compound, she saw the slaves working. She saw their thin, frail bodies and their downcast eyes.

As the child had reminded her, tales of the Jedi spread across the stars. Some Jedi were even foolhardy enough to believe in their own propaganda. Kae had never been one of those Jedi. She had never dreamed of defeating great evil or bringing peace to the galaxy, she had always thought that her place was in the Archives, or occasionally outside if there was a task that no others seemed willing to complete, like locating this ancient temple.

But perhaps she had been wrong.

.

Kae returned to her ship, and left the Outer Rim behind her. She set the nav computer for Coruscant, and sat back in the pilot's chair. It would be good to get back home.

Across from her, in the co-pilot’s chair, sat a small child, green eyes widening as they witnessed a jump into hyperspace for the first time.

Her actions today would be a tough sell to the Council but perhaps, Arren Kae thought, it was time for a change.


End file.
